Miami Dolphins’ Dan Marino is the greatest NFL QB so get over it

When it comes to the best QB in NFL history, it is Dan Marino. Get over it.

It has been a popular social media exercise since the NFL released their top 100 players list and the top players in history at each position. Dan Marino made it and others did not. Now, some in the second tier mainstream media want you to decide of Dan Marino or Drew Brees is the better pure passer.

Hint: This isn’t even a question needing to be debated. Dan Marino is the best QB in NFL history. Period. That little man-girl who won all those Super Bowls from his cheating coach is not the GOAT. That is Marino. The sooner you realize that the better you as a person will become.

Dan Marino wasn’t a “record holder” like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning. Dan Marino wrote the books that the other QB’s now have their names attached to. See back then, you could hit a quarterback. You could break his leg as Lawrence Taylor did to Joe Theismann. You could hit them in the head, you could knock them down after the ball was gone, and guess what? QB’s in the mid-80s and early 90s didn’t fall down when the pressure came. They took the hit.

Imagine what it must have been like to stand in a pocket with Bruce Smith coming off the edge? Imagine trying to look downfield knowing that the cornerback and safety were going to knock the hell out of your receiver because pass interference needed to be blatant to get called. Imagine Manning and Brees playing under those rules. Imagine Tom Brady with his quick release on a TE slant or a pick having that taken away by a much more physical defensive player who was going to make little guys like Julian Edelman pay for being on the field.

Here is a fact that can’t be proven, Tom Brady would not have lasted long in the NFL. Manning was a tough QB and Brees is hard to catch but let us not confuse the two vastly different eras of the game. Brees and Brady are not battling for TD and yardage records back then. Disagree all you want.

I get it, this is the “new” modern era of the NFL and the argument could just as easily be made about Marino vs. Johnny Unitas in the late 60s and 70s. I think Marino was pretty tough and he probably would have forced the league to change its rules had he played back then.

Marino is knocked for not winning a Super Bowl. For not being able to overcome perhaps the worst coached defense in the history of the NFL, yes I mean you Tom Olivatotti. If you didn’t watch Dan Marino play, and I’m not talking about highlight reels, I’m talking week to week play, you have no idea what he was capable of doing and who could carry on his arm.

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Yes, Manning, Brees, and Brady have more Super Bowls than Miami combined and Marino never touched a Super Bowl after his loss to the 49’ers and Joe Montana but let us not also confuse Montana’s greatness as better than Marino’s. Truth is, if Marino played for San Francisco instead of Montana, Marino would still be in the Hall of Fame and there is a good chance that no one would remember Joe Montana for anything but a good quarterback. And as a result, I seriously doubt anyone would know who Steve Young was.

I will be honest, I love Peyton Manning. I loved watching him play and I am a huge fan of Drew Brees as well. I enjoy watching him scratch and claw for every yard. He is a great QB and yeah, Miami blew that one twice. I will also admit that I do not allow myself to be glossed over by Tom Brady’s career. It deserves an asterisk. Before you say it, I never had issues with Steve Grogan or any of the other QB’s not named Brady on the Patriots. I respected their play as QBs and rivals. I don’t respect Brady’s and yes, cheating is the reason.

Am I a Miami Dolphins “gomer”? Maybe but to be fair, Marino isn’t even my favorite Dolphins player. I tend to look with my eyes and not my emotions. Apparently there are plenty that can’t, or won’t, separate the two.